(Note: This article was originally published to JamieMcSloy.co.uk on May 6th, 2019. I’m going through an old backup of the site, which has hundreds of posts that aren’t currently uploaded. As I’m working hard on updating the site – and releasing The Vault, letting these old posts be the daily posts for a while. We’re getting very close now, so bear with me. Soon I’ll resume regular posting and then just upload these archives in one go.)
You Are The Curator
A couple of days ago, I posted another article on Big Tech and social media censorship. Don’t worry, this isn’t another post on the same subject.
Regular readers will know that recently, I’ve been suffering some as-of-yet unknown ailment which makes it hard to stare at a screen all day.
I’ve been working on some material for a different sort of project; a number of people in my real life, business life and digital life have recently revealed to me that they’ve been struck by an ennui, if not depression, about life.
Put those three things together, and you have a sort of introductory thought for said new project.
The Internet: Enemy or Friend?
You are the curator of your digital experience.
This may seem overly simple, but it’s important to think about.
Many complain about their Facebook feed, their Twitter timeline or the fact that everything is moving towards a more standardised status-quo of acceptable thought-windows and endless vapid Instagram-styled web experiences where you’re a window-shopper end-consumer at the expense of, well, your actual life.
(Time Out: If you’re enjoying this article, then you should probably sign up to my mailing list, where I give out ideas and business tricks that I don’t share publicly. Click here, fill out your details and get yourself on the list! You won’t leave this page.
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I’ve done this.
I spent most of the weekend not doing this; taking off, being outside, reading actual books and listening to music I have bought and paid for as opposed to a slipstream of recommended music videos on YouTube.
And I’m sure you’ve done similar; gone for a weekend away and then come back to the internet… and no doubt you’ll have experienced the same as I did.
Most of the internet is frankly ridiculous. Stupid people, stupid opinions, and nothing that helps you get to where you want to be.
But…
This is largely a choice that you’ve made at a less-than-conscious level, and you have to bring it back into your conscious decision making.
Seeking Higher Quality
Most internet material; and to extend that outwards, every consumable material, is within your control for the most part.
You don’t have to eat terrible takeaway junk food. Nor do you have to scroll endlessly through the Daily Mail’s stream of endless “celebrity” girls SHOCKING everyone in their bikinis.
Similarly, your Facebook feed with some guy you used to go to school with ranting about how it’s A-OK to do drugs and he’s not an addict because he “can stop anytime he wants” – it’s your choice if you want to subject yourself to that.
It doesn’t feel like a choice a lot of the time, because it’s occurred at a subconscious level or you’ve let it slide without your conscious attention.
The guy above who you went to school with; he’s been a Facebook friend for ten years and you don’t feel like you should delete him even though you haven’t spoken to him since you were sixteen and if you met him now, you might cross the street to avoid him.
Or the guy on Twitter you follow because he once wrote a good blog post about being an Alpha Male but since it’s all devolved into meandering about what Donald Trump is doing and endlessly whining about how guys in the West are screwed because of divorce laws and the like… you an cut that out.
And honestly, there are full operas being posted online, legitimate world-leading experts on social media and you have access to stuff like Google Scholar where you can look up actual information on most topics by people that have been studying that one thing their whole lives.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Feed yourself good information. Cull the rest.